Digitalis Purpurea, the Foxglove Fairy – Finished

Finally, photos of the Foxglove Fairy finished! Apologies for not posting these before – I wanted to post some really good images of the painting, having spent three or four weeks on it, and photographs are not nearly so sharp. Not only that, but THAT yellowy colour is just one of those colours that is really hard to get just right in a reproduction, as is the purple. I have done my best and the colours are as close to the original painting as I am going to manage.

So here she is: Digitalis Purpurea, the Foxglove Fairy:

Digitalis Purpurea, the Folglove Fairy – painting in gouache

And a close-up of the fairy:

Digitalis Purpurea, the Folglove Fairy – detail

As I said in the first post about this painting, she has an old-fashioned stethoscope, because of the plant’s remarkable potency as a heart-drug. What I didn’t explain were the yellow glasses. This is an allusion to a curious side-effect that has been known to occur in long-term usage of the plant as a drug: a disturbance of the vision called Xanthopsia, where the sufferer sees the world as if through a yellow veil. I posted some time last year about the use of foxgloves, including a curious theory about foxgloves and van Gough’s yellow paintings: https://nancyfarmer.wordpress.com/2012/05/30/foxgloves-naughtie-humours-and-xanthopsia/

The Foxglove Fairy, complete with stethoscope and yellow glasses

Below are some of the Foxglove Fairy’s paraphernalia, including the all-important fob-watch for the measuring of heartbeats. The fairy has no pockets, which explains why everything is tucked underneath her garter. Either that or it is a gratuitous excuse to show a bit of stocking-top…

The Foxglove Fairy’s paraphernalia, including, most importantly, the fob watch, for measuring heartbeats.

…and this will be the last large piece I’m going to post for a while: I have Ilminster Art Gallery to fill with my paintings next month, and quite a lot of prep work for that to be done, some catching up on admin and updating of things and so on. Maybe I will squeeze in a few drawings before the end of July – I can always hope!